The purpose of this study was to develop guidelines to be used by state advisory councils in performing their evaluation role. The state director of vocational education, the state advisory council chairman, and the advisory council executive director in each of the 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia were asked to respond to mail questionnaires. Based on 85 percent response, guidelines were developed which included such issues as: (1) improving vocational education, (2) evaluating state plans, (3) checking for the implementation of vocational acts, (4) using advisory councils as independent evaluators, (5) developing council staffs knowledgeable in evaluation, (6) developing a formal evaluation plan by council, (7) establishing evaluation criteria, (8) providing opportunities for councils to discuss and exchange ideas on evaluation procedures, (9) utilizing council members' expertise, (10) developing and using an evaluation system, (11) securing contractual evaluation services, (12) utilizing related evaluation studies, (13) improving cooperative evaluation, (14) collecting data for evaluation, and (15) submitting recommendations which are measurable. (Author/JS)